Interplanetary matter department

The Department of Interplanetary Matter studies minor bodies of the Solar System in particular meteoroids and asteroids. Attention is devoted to the study of the interactions of interplanetary bodies of different sizes with the Earth’s atmosphere. Photometric studies of asteroids are also performed.

The department has two working groups

Meteor physics

The group observes meteors and performs theoretical interpretations of the observations. The basic observational system is the European Fireball Network. Sensitive television cameras are used to observe faint meteors. We also participate in the project of new fireball network in Australia. The observational data are used to study physical processes during the penetration of meteoroids into planetary atmospheres, including radiation, ionization and meteoroid fragmentation. The physical properties and chemical composition of different types of meteoroids, their origin and distribution in the solar system and their relation to comets, asteroids and meteorites are being determined.

Head: Jiří Borovička

Asteroids

The main topic of the group is physical studies of asteroids, particularly their binary properties, rotations, and bulk properties. The main observational instrument is the 0.65 m telescope located at Ondřejov equipped with a CCD camera. The collaboration with observatories across the world provides us with data from a number of their instruments that allow us to get a much thorough understanding of the studied objects.